Today two notable organisations provide mountain rescue services in Switzerland. Prior to 1946 mountain air rescue did not exist. Air Glacier SA is based in Sion in Valais, and Swiss Air-Rescue Rega in Zurich. Rega has twelve operational bases around Switzerland but does not operate in Valais. In Valais, Rega uses the services of Air […]
Rotating carriages keep passengers upright on world’s steepest funicular
Over the weekend, Swiss president Doris Leuthard officially opened the world’s steepest funicular railway. The track, which runs from Schywz to the Alpine resort of Stoos in central Switzerland, has a gradient of 111% at its steepest point, according to the company ABB which built the motors. This is 48 degrees, 90 degrees being vertical. […]
Start-up airline plans flights between Zurich and Sion
The ski-focused airline Powdair, launching in December 2017, recently announced plans to add direct flights between Zurich and Sion. Starting on 11 December 2017, the airline will offer 21 flights a week between Zurich and Sion, the closest airport to the Swiss resorts of Verbier, Zermatt and Crans Montana. Flights from Zurich are planned seven […]
First direct flight to Sion, near Verbier, from London Heathrow, arrives
20 Minutes. Back in August last year, the French language newspaper Le Nouvelliste, reported that Swiss would start test flights direct from London Heathrow to Sion in Valais this February after Switzerland’s military stopped using the airport. Over the weekend the first aircraft and its passengers made the first 1:50 minute flight. The aircraft, an Embraer […]
2016 saw fewer passengers on Switzerland’s highest railway
The train, which takes sightseers to the Jungfraujoch in the Bernese Alpes, carried 916,500 passengers in 2016, significantly fewer than the year before. In 2015, a record 1,007,000 made the journey. Despite the decline, 2016 was still the second best performance recorded. And, at the price of CHF 218.80 for a first class round trip, brought in […]
Easyjet adds six new destinations from Switzerland
Easyjet will add six new destinations from Geneva, Basel and Zurich starting next summer. Geneva There will be new flights from Geneva to Tivat in Montenegro from 1 July 2017, running weekly until 2 September. Basel From Basel, two flights per week to Biarritz, in France, and to Dubrovnik, in Croatia, will be added and run from 28 […]
West zest – Zürich’s hippest quarter
By Bill Harby Aficionados of über urban culture, get thee to Zürich – specifically, the trendy neighbourhood locals call “Züri West”. You can get started at Im Viadukt, where the neighbourhood’s past and present meld. A railway viaduct hand-built in 1894 to transport coal for the area’s 19th-century factories, today the 36 archways are home […]
Easyjet adds seven new destinations from Switzerland
Easyjet’s orange aircraft will head to seven new destinations from Geneva, Basel and Zurich starting from this winter. Flights to these destinations can be booked now. Geneva New flights from Geneva include Fuerteventura, one of the volcanic island making up Spain’s Canary Islands lying around 100 km from the coast of Africa, Inverness in the north of […]
New rules make it risky to hire a car in Switzerland and drive it in the EU
Rule makers in Brussels have been busy trying to streamline customs procedures within the European Union (EU). But ham-fisted drafting of the new rules, which came into force on 1 May 2016, has made it risky for EU residents to rent cars in Switzerland and drive them in the EU. In addition, an article on the British […]
The airline seat that could lead to waistline based pricing
A recently published US patent application, made by Airbus, shows a reconfigurable aircraft seat that could accommodate anything from a slender family of four to two larger adults. The image above shows the family configuration, despite the two in the middle looking more like shrunken adults than children. This image shows the seat configured for two […]
